part 2] PKECILACIAL FLOttAS FEOM CASTLE EDEN. 119 



Alnus viridis is a mountain species ranging throughout Europe, 

 Northern and Eastern Asia, and North America as far south as the 

 Alleghanies. It is not found in the British Isles. 



URTICACE^. 

 Ubtica dioica Linnaeus (var. ?). (PL VIII, fig. 2.) 



Length='8 mm. ; breadth =• 7 mm. 



Several minute nutlets resemble those described from the Cro- 

 merian, Teglian, and Reuverian, as Urtica dioica (?), except that 

 they are slightly smaller. The reason of doubt was that the nuts 

 were much smaller, broader in proportion to their length, and 

 nearly oval, not ovate as were all the specimens of U. dioica with 

 which we compared them. An examination of material in the Kew 

 Herbarium shows that there is a considerable range of size in the 

 nutlets, both on different specimens and on the same specimen, the 

 terminal nutlets being frequently smaller ; but the Castle-Eden 

 specimens are smaller than any nut that I could find on any 

 European specimen and most Asiatic specimens. It was not until 

 I came to two sheets with ripe fruit collected by Dr. J. Anderson 

 from Yunnan that I was able to match the fossils (PI. VIII, 

 fig. 3). On these two sheets nearly every nut that I could see 

 was within the limits of size of the fossil species. 



As these sheets are referred to IT. dioica, I have assigned the 

 fossils to the same species. 



Pilea pttmila Asa Gray. (PL VIII, fig. 6.) 



Achenes flat, ovate-acute, sometimes slightly stipitate ; attach- 

 ment basal, asymmetric ; style apical ; finely and evenly pitted. 



Length = l - 7 mm. ; breadth= - 9 mm. 



This species was first figured in ' The Fossil Flora of Tegelen ' 

 (pi. ii, fig. 77) when it was described as Urtica (?). I have now 

 found that it agrees in every way with the achenes of Pilea 

 pumila, the 'stingless nettle 1 of North America, which is found 

 throughout the United States and Canada", from the Great Lakes 

 to Mexico. Achenes from Tegelen (PL VIII, fig. 4) and North 

 America (PL VIII, fig. 5) are figured here for comparison. 



POLYGONACE^!. 

 Rumex acetosella Linnaeus. (PL VIII, fig. 7.) 



Length = L3 mm. ; breadth= - 95 mm. 



Two fruits of Rumex, the dull rough surfaces of which show the 

 remains of a closely-adhering perianth, agree in size and shape 

 with R. acetosella. The surface is not sufficiently well preserved 

 to show the venation, but the agreement of the fruits is otherwise 

 so close that they must be referred to the species. 



R. acetosella ranges at the present time throughout Europe 

 and Northern Asia. 



Q. J. G. S. No. 302. k 



